Describe, Analyze, Relate (DAR)
Description
What Is It?
The D.A.R. protocol invites all students to bring their experiences and knowledge to the content at hand. In this strategy, students will look together at an image, an artifact, a text, or a video. I Then, they will share their observations, opinions, and connections to that media.
Describe: I see… or I observe…
Restrain from analysis. Describe just what you see.
Analyze: I think…
Start analyzing what you see. What assumptions and inferences does what you see lead you to make?
Relate: This makes me think of…
Make connections to your life, other texts, the world.
Why Use It?
This strategy provides scaffolds for linguistically and culturally diverse students to successfully participate and make meaning together. Depending on how it is used, it can increase engagement and help teachers gauge students' prior knowledge or provide formative assessment data.
Instructional Steps:
Choose a source such as an artifact, image, text, or video to consider together.
Draw students’ attention to the source.
Ask students to use the sentence stem “I see…” or “I observe…” to use only their eyes to describe the source.
Ask students to now analyze the source using the “I think…” stem.
Ask students to relate to the source using the stem, “This makes me think of…” or “This reminds me of…”
It is important that there are no right or wrong answers. In this constructivist approach to learning, students have the opportunity to make meaning together, to bring who they are to the shared space, and to demonstrate their perspectives, their experiences, their connections and their knowledge.
Note: Consider using the Q.S.S.S.A. strategy to elicit their responses at their tables for each of the steps of describing, analyzing, and relating. Q.S.S.S.A will ensure each student’s participation.
Quick Tips
Teachers can use D.A.R. at the beginning, middle, or end of a unit. Used as an introductory lesson, D.A.R. will increase anticipation and engagement and help teachers gauge students' prior knowledge.
In the middle or end of a unit, D.A.R. can be used as a check-in or a formative assessment.
Teachers should consider structured ways for students to respond in a low-stakes setting perhaps with a partner, through writing, or in small groups and then gathering the responses of the class for collective meaning-making.
When teaching students how to respond using the D.A.R. strategy, remind students not to jump ahead in the steps. Taking time for each step helps all students to contribute and brings the discussion to a deeper level.
Sentence stems will support student talk. For the "describe" step, use a sentence stem like “I observe…” or “I see…” For the "analyze" step, start with “I think…” and for the "Relate" step use the sentence stem, “This makes me think of…”
Resources
Include links to any resources that would support implementation of the strategy.